In recent weeks, the Biden Administration has taken two major steps that will allow 25,000 mixed-status families to remain in public housing and will help millions of Americans struggling with food insecurity put food on the table. Both steps reverse cruel decisions by the Trump Administration that disproportionately threatened people with low incomes, people of color, immigrants, and children.
Archives: Voices
What we can learn from a Universal Basic Income for the expanded Child Tax Credit
A basic income pilot in Stockton, California provided $500 monthly payments to 125 residents with no strings attached. From improved family wellbeing and financial stability to an increase in full-time employment, these positive impacts hold hope for the refundable Child Tax Credit (CTC).
2021 State of America’s Children: ‘Our Children Are Not Immune’
A Black U.S. public school student was suspended every four seconds in 2019, based on a 180-day school year. Every 28 seconds, a Latinx student dropped out of high school. And every 33 minutes, An American Indian/Alaskan Native student was arrested. Those are just some nuggets of information included in the latest State of America’s Children report, an annual report published by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF).
The Biden Economic Recovery Plan: A “Once-in-a-Generation” Investment
President Biden is right to call for a “once-in-a-generation investment” to assure that we can build a lasting economic recovery. Our nation has been buffeted by multiple emergencies in the past year, including the pandemic, natural disasters, and electrical grid failure. They have all shown how unprepared we are to protect our people, our businesses, and our environment. We cannot prevent every emergency, but we can and must protect against loss of life and economic catastrophe for millions of people. We can and must make ourselves more resilient.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship April 2, 2021
The fourth surge fears edition. “Impending doom.” Those off-script words were issued this week by CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky who warned of spring spikes in COVID-19 cases across the country. Already we are seeing rising caseloads in many states, particularly in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Overall, daily infection rates in the U.S. are much higher than they were two weeks ago – although, thankfully, not nearly as high as they were in January, which witnessed the largest death toll so far in the pandemic.
As anti-voter measures flood state legislatures, activists search for ways to reverse the tide
As a number of swing and Republican-leaning states rush to consider legislation that would make it harder to cast ballots, pro-voter advocates increasingly are calling for corporations to weigh in against the measures – and are urging boycotts if they don’t. According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, as of Feb. 19, 2021, legislators in 43 states have carried over, prefiled, or introduced more than 250 bills that would make it harder to vote – more than seven times the number of restrictive bills compared to roughly this time last year.
How the American Rescue Plan will help domestic abuse survivors
The first time, Davida’s boyfriend hit her, she did exactly what experts say a person in her situation should do: she called the police. The 38-year-old North Carolina woman left the apartment they shared, filed a complaint in court, and obtained a protective order. Today, with the help of a career-readiness program at Sanctuary for Families, a shelter and service provider, Davida has succeeded in turning an internship into a part-time job. But a year after her boyfriend upended Davida and her son’s lives with a single wanton act of violence, she and her son are still homeless. “Every day I wake up, I’m starting over,” she said.
Survey: White students much more likely to receive in-person learning during pandemic
White students are much more likely to be receiving in-person learning than minority students, revealing yet another form of racial disparity during the pandemic, stark new data released this week show. The U.S. Department of Education this week released the first in a series of school surveys aimed at providing a national view of learning during the pandemic. The survey showed that the percentage of students still attending school virtually may be higher than previously thought.
Hunger in the U.S. Military: ‘Families have been struggling with this for a long time’
COVID-19 has caused hardship among the nation’s vulnerable, but a surprising issue is coming to the forefront that has been festering for many years; hunger in military families. CBS News shared the story of Kay, a military spouse, who recently traveled to a food bank to feed her family of six. “It lasts a couple of days, maybe just because there are so many of us in the house,” said Kay. “I cannot feed my kids. I cannot make this vehicle payment because I had to feed my kids. It’s just unacceptable, really,”
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship March 19, 2021
The shot in the arm edition. More than one in five Americans have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination; that number is slowly climbing toward one in four. But it is not just tens of millions of Americans who are receiving a shot in the arm – so is our economy, thanks to the American Rescue Plan.
People of conscience must speak out and take action against hate
The Coalition on Human Needs stands with the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and with people of conscience throughout our nation in outrage and grief over the hateful killings of eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, in Atlanta.
How the American Rescue Plan will save the child care industry and put women back to work
Almost exactly one year ago, Kate Aronoff’s child care center closed due to COVID-19. She thought it would be closed for two weeks, and then her 5-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter would be able to return. But then Kate and her husband, who live in the small college town of Corvallis, Oregon, learned it was closing permanently. “We started calling around to all of the child care centers in our small-ish town to see who might have space and were able to get my children enrolled in another day care. However, two weeks later, we learned that that day care was also closing permanently, which was another big blow.”
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